Elton John's Mission Concert crowd in Napier in 2020. Photo / Paul Taylor
The Mission Estate Concert is aptly named.
The iconic event has been making a name for Napier – er, Taradale! - almost as much as Art Deco, since the night Dame Kiri Janette Te Kanawa graced its inaugural stage in 1993.
Many 'Missioners' have been there every year since, on mainly sunny afternoons and warm nights for six to eight hours each time.
The excitement that goes with witnessing some of the world's greatest musical performers is a pleasurable "mission", sometimes more so for those imbibing the host vineyard's finest product.
And now, with the definitive cancellation of Rod Stewart's appearances, the biggest mission now is with Australian concert and sports promoter and stars manager SEL and its 'Mission Man", Garry Craft.
It's not that it hasn't been some sort of mission before.
In 2009, thousands sat through hours of rain before being told about 6.30pm that Lionel Ritchie's concert had to be cancelled because of the weather.
In 2018, Neil Diamond's diagnosis with Parkinson's meant his 2018 tour and Napier visit was cancelled.
Craft is optimistic that when we are eventually Covid-free, and the green light switches back on, there won't be any shortage of stars available for the job.
They'll be queuing up for gigs all over the world.
The Aussie-based Craft, speaking to Hawke's Bay Today from his inland-Queensland lifestyle block, has been working to see if there might be iconic Kiwi acts without border issues that could fit the Mission bill.
There aren't many with quite the iconic appeal.
Although regular Mission-goers will tell you there's more to it than just the band - the event is a package of atmospheric conviviality with friends, food and wine, topped off with fine music.
Often the latter are acts that were once barely likely to venture to New Zealand, let alone a vineyard off Church Rd, Taradale.
While any idea "is still possible", Craft found that Kiwi artists he considered were too divergent in the various stages of life and career for it to be feasible.
He has now turned to the longer-term possibilities, mindful that he has to be at the front of more than one queue.
Craft's biggest fear is access to the event "infrastructure" which would have to come together, when other promoters and concert organisers are in the race at the same time.
On the New Zealand concert and event circuit, there is just one suitable arena stage available.
Putting it up and pulling it down at a single venue takes a fortnight.
"If I wanted to book an act today, say, for December," he says, "it'd be fine if I got in first.''
"If someone beats me and gets the stage, I then go along with the process."
But that's only the start of the issues.
Next would be arranging the flights. It isn't easy getting, say, 60 crew on one flight at the same time in a hurry.
Or for a security company to get 80-90 people all "double-vaxxed".
And lurking in the background, are the worries about the impact the near global suspension of touring is having on the wider musical industry, the longer Covid goes on.
"If we don't have international touring open again by the end of the year there is going to be a big shift in music and the music industry globally," Craft says.
"It can't survive otherwise, and if they can't get up and running there will be businesses that will be closing," he said, adding that there might not be the business left to put the concerts together.
He says that "at the moment" they've got thousands if not millions of dollars worth of gear shut-up in sheds, gear they wouldn't want to ship-off in containers not knowing where it could end-up if a gig or tour was abandoned.
And the lighting and technology companies are not investing in new gear, worried that it might be out-of-date by the time they get the chance to use it.
"These companies (usually) invest in the very latest," he says.
"They are replacing and upgrading that sort of stuff all of the time, but they haven't been able to do that for two years."
There might also be the issue of getting bums on seats that themselves don't appear overnight, like "20,000" suitable chairs, and he worries that "rental" companies among the many providers might not be around to do the providing.
Craft emphasises, though, that the Mission Concert is not "the" sole business for SEL (Sports and Entertainment Ltd and its associated operations), and nor is it for the Mission Estate, which as a 24/7, 365 days viticulture and wine operation to look after.
"We (SEL) are diversified, and we are not relying on the entertainment industry," he says.
Mission Estate CEO Peter Holley says "we're very determined to have another concert".
If the border and MIQ issues are resolved in time "We would want to be back in the paddock in February (next year). That's something that's going to have to unfold over the winter''.
One waiting for answers is accommodation industry giant Rodney Green, whose hotels and motels have flourished in Mission times and on the back of it over the years
Green takes up to 70 family members, friends and business associates along each year.
The highlight has been dinner with Rod Stewart a few years ago, and Green says he wouldn't have to think twice about going again the minute the Mission is on the road again.
Green reckons there are still the acts around to keep up the iconic image of the Mission Concerts, and lists a few he wouldn't mind seeing.
New Zealand's Lorde is one, and Aussie rockers Midnight Oil another, but if nothing's a goer, he says: "It would be sad, (but) that's how it is."
But it won't be Covid that ends it, Green says, reckoning it's the regulations that have "ruined it" for some people, and threaten to do it for more.
"There is a lot more to it than just getting the visas sorted and getting the acts here when we get the green light," says Craft.
"But we are in the queue."
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